


Fade

by thorinoakenbutt



Series: FFXIVWrite2020 prompts [17]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Crystal Tower Questline (Final Fantasy XIV), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, Pre-Relationship, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26699869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorinoakenbutt/pseuds/thorinoakenbutt
Summary: Definition of fade:1: gradually grow faint and disappear2: the process of becoming less bright
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light, Haurchefant Greystone/Warrior of Light
Series: FFXIVWrite2020 prompts [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918291
Kudos: 14





	Fade

Summer had ended, and with it, the Warrior of Light’s role in the NOAH expedition into the vast and mysterious Crystal Tower. He was glad for it, in the end. The tower’s doors were tightly sealed, and a certain redhaired fool that he’d become fond of had shut himself away behind them. E’andhris fancied that a part of himself had gone with him. 

Not that he had ever given voice to such feelings. He _suspected_ that those feelings were even returned, not that G’raha had ever so much as mentioned it. “Your heroism will be the star by which I chart my course when I awake,” he had said instead upon their parting, and E’andhris cursed the gods that they had ever put G’raha Tia in his path.

Summer nights filled with joy and eager anticipation for what new trials the next day would bring faded into cold autumn days, left all the more chilled by his absence. And so, E’andhris returned to Mor Dhona, intent to help Alphinaud with his Crystal Braves. A lofty pursuit, though the Warrior had high hopes and higher faith in the boy-turned-commander. 

Even as he tried to fill his days so full that he didn’t have the _time_ to miss him, E’andhris often found his feet taking him up and up and up, to the high walls that surrounded the settlement. He’d gaze at the crystalline spire standing lonely in it’s vigil, kept company only by the desiccated corpse of Midgardsormr and he’d _ache_ with G’raha’s absence. 

When he was sent to Coerthas, to meet with old friends and with the intentions of brokering new alliances, he went gladly. Anything to get away from the haunting sight of the tower’s glow reflecting against the waters of Silvertear Lake. He found that he quite liked Ser Aymeric, even as the man’s pragmatism irritated like sand within a shell. On the rare occasion that the elezen let his politician’s facade fall, he even reminded E’andhris of _him_. Eager to hear stories of his journeys from his own lips as opposed to dry reports. 

He found that he enjoyed his time in Camp Dragonhead, in spite of the damned cold. A child of the eternal summerland of La Noscea, E’andhris struggled with the hardships of the frozen landscape. He indulged in the ever-warm company of Haurchefant and his never-ending supply of hot cocoa. It was in those long winter nights, with hands wrapped around steaming mugs, that E’andhris began to think less of red and more of silver.

**Author's Note:**

> I was fairly uninspired for this one, I'll admit, though I think it turned out okay in the end. It's a bit more introspective into my WoL than anything.


End file.
